Magnus Knut
Enkel

Finland • 1870−1925

Biography and information

Magnus Enkel (Swede. Magnus Enckell; November 9, 1870, Hamina - November 27, 1925, Hamina) - Finnish artist.

Born into a vicar family, was the youngest of 6 sons. He studied painting in Helsinki (1889-1891). The young artist creates his first works in the tradition of the naturalistic school. In 1891 he left for Paris, where he entered the Julian Academy; among his teachers here are Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Benjamin Constant. During this period, Enkel is fond of symbolism, falls under the influence of the mysticism of Josephine Peladan and creatively - painting Puvi de Chavannes and Eduard Manet.

In 1893, Enkel again visits Paris. Disappointed with Parisian mysticism, the artist traveled to Italy in 1894-1895, visits Milan, Venice and Florence, and then leaves for Switzerland and Germany, where he gets acquainted with the works of Arnold Böcklin. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Enkel breaks with symbolism, and his painting takes on bright colors characteristic of post-impressionism. In 1907, Enkel received an order to create murals for the altar chapel in the Cathedral Church of Tampere. In a gigantic picture 10 by 4 m in size, the artist depicted the Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension to heaven of representatives of all human races.